Hinges



1968 e. CROXSON ETAL 3,398,425

HINGES Filed Sept. 7, 1966 Z 0 4m 8 2 m 5 M 2 i x 9 4 L a #2 OAMM 2 4/@ \M x United States Patent ,0

ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE Plastic hinge capable of taking upvariationsin total length caused by thermal expansion of the plastichinge material comprises a plurality of individual hinge units having aligned hinging portions and cooperating fastening means.

According to this invention an integrally formed hinge unit of plastic has a first body portion which connects to a hinging portion, which hinging portion connects on its opposite side to a second body portion, each body portion including at least one fastener part which fastener part has co-operating means for association with a complementary co-operating means on an adjacent hinge unit, said fastener parts interconnecting two members to which they are applied, and simultaneously interconnecting the two hinge units.

Examples of hinges embodying the invention are-described below with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:

FIGURE 1 is a perspective view of three hinge units, in combination with a first fastening means;

FIGURE 2 is a sectional side elevation taken asindicated by the lines IIII in FIGURE 1; e F 4 FIGURE 3 is a view similar to that of FIGURE'Z but of three hinge units using a second fastening means.

3,398,425 Patented Aug. 27, 1968 part is merely a hole 44 which is of a size to just receive the legs 20'.

Adjacent to the ends of the unit 34 or 36 are units 46, 48, or 50, 52 respectively. These are merely the. two halves of the associated central unit 34 or 36 and serve to make neat ends to an assembly of hinge units, as is described below. The unit46 has two female members, the unit 48 two male members. The unit 50 has two male and two female members, so that the unit .52 merely requires to have the holes 44. I 1

In the arrangement seen the male and femalemembers are formed on semi-circular portions 40 and .42 or 40'. and 42 respectively, extendingfrom an end of the unit; these portions have half the thickness of the rest of the bodyof the unit. They are arranged so that oneof the faces of the portion is coplanar with a face of thebody portion. The taperedlips 31 of the semi-circular portions Each hinge unit is substantially rectangular when-viewed in plan, and has a portion 10 extending transversely across it which is thinner than the rest of the unit. This thinner portion constitutes the hinging portion; the two rectangular parts 12 and 14 on either side of it constitute the body portions. Each body portion has projecting from it a male fastener part or member 16 and a female fastener part or member 18, which constitutes in conjunction the fastening means.

The female member consists of a plurality of resilient legs 20 defining between them a socket 22 which is coaxial with a hole 24 passing through the body portion. In the arrangement seen the socket is narrower measured at the free ends of the legs than at the body portion, and the outer faces 23 of the legs are substantially parallel.

Alternatively the socket could be of uniform width and the outwardly facing surfaces of the legs made divergent from the body portion. The male member 16 in its simplest form is a cylindrical pin, which in the first embodiment is hollow.

Referring to the centrally lying unit 26 of FIGURES 1 and 2, and defining those edges 28, 30 of the hinge unit which are perpendicular to the hinge 10 as the ends, and the two edges 32, 34 lying parallel to the hinge as the sides, the two male members 16 lie near one end, and the two female members 18 lie near the other end, all four projecting in the same direction.

In the hinge units seen in FIGURE 3, the intermediate unit 36 has a male fastener member which comprises legs 20 having between them a socket 22' which is coaxial with a hole 24' passing through the body portion. The socket 22' converges away from the body portion. The fastener member further comprises a pin 37 which is attached to the body portion by small webs 38. The female 40 interengage with the complementary recesses 33 in the adjacent member so that the hinge members are more effectively locked together to prevent removal of the pin 16 from the mating female portion 20.

In use each hinge unit is used to fasten together two members, the members lying on opposite sides of the hinging part 10. Each member has holes along the edge at which it is joined, the size of the holes is that of the holes 44, and their spacing is equal to the distance between the axes of the male and female members on the unit 34.

Considering firstly the assembling of the units seen in FIGURES 1 and 2, an end unit 46 is laid across the abutting faces of the members to be joined, the hinge 10 lying in line with the said faces, and each of the female members 18 lying in or through a hole in the respective member. A unit 34 is then applied to the unit 46 in the manner seen in FIGURE 2. The male member is inserted into the hole 24 and further pressed along the tapered cavity 22 so that the legs 20 are urged and held outwards to be securely mounted in the holes in the members.

Because of the spacing of the holes along the edges of the members, the female'members 18 of the unit 34 then lie immediately above, and can be pressed into or through, another hole in each of the members.

A further unit 34 can be applied to these female members as described, and the operation can be repeated along the entire length of the abutting, or nearly abutting, edges of the members to be joined.

For neatness the last unit applied is a unit 48. This only presents male members to cooperate with the female members of penultimate unit.

In assembling the arrangement of FIGURE 3, an end member 52 is laid across the abutting or nearly abutting edges of the two members, each of the two holes 44 lying coterminous with a hole in one of the members. The female members of a unit 36 are then pressed through the holes 44 and so into or through the holes in the members. The pins 37 are then struck inwards so that the webs 38 are fractured in shear and the male pins are driven along the tapered cavities 22' to urge and hold the legs to be divergent.

As described above, the holes 44 of the connected unit 36 will coincide with further holes in the members so that a further unit 36 can be applied. The operation is continued along the length of the abutting edges, the last unit being a unit 50.

As is clear from FIGURES 2 and 3 the circular portions are of half the thickness of the body generally and being coterminous on their one side with the semicircular portions 40 and 42, interengage to give a joint which is of the same thickness as the body generally.

A major advantage provided by a long hinge made up of a number of units according to this invention is that 3 any incompatibility of thermal expansion of the material of the hinge and that or those of the independent mem hers, is tolerated by movement between individual units, so the buckling encountered in the known constructions of long hinges is overcome.

The holes 44 may be elongated to make provision for thermal expansion.

We claim:

1. An integrally formed hinge unit of plastic comprising first and second body portions connected to each other by a'longitudinally extending hinging portion having a thickness less than that of the body portions, at least'one fastener member on each of said body portions and located at the same end of said hinge unit, said at least one fastener member having cooperating means adapted to be associated with a complementary fastener member on an adjaceint hinge unit for locking said hinge unit to said adjacent hinge unit so that the hinging portions of adjacent hinge units will be aligned, whereby, when a plurality of said hinge units are arranged in aligned cooperating relation with each other the cooperating means will take up variations in total hinge length caused by thermal expansion of the material of the hinge units.

2. A hinge unit according to claim 1 in which a fastenera part is a female member which comprises a plurality of legs extending outwards from the body portion and defining between them a cavity which is in line with a hole through the body portion, the form of the legs and the cavity being such that when a pin lies in the cavity the outer surfaces of the legs diverge from the body portion.

3. A hinge according to claim 1 in which a fastener part is a male member which comprises a pin extending from the body portion.

4. A hinge according to claim 3 in which the pin is weakly attached to a body portion by an integral web, and lies in line with a hole through the body portion.

5. A hinge according to claim 1 in which a fastener part comprises a hole passing through a body portion, at least two legs extending from one side of the body portion and defining between them a cavity, :and a pin extending :from the other side of the body portion and being weakly attached to thereto by a web, the cavity, the hole and 'the pin being coaxial.

6. A hinge according to claim 5 in which the complementary fastener part is a loop through which the legs may be passed. i

7. A hinge according to claim 3 in which onefastener part is a pin rigidly formed on the body portion and the complementary part is the legs, the cavity-and the hole of another body portion. s.

8. A hinge according to claim 1 which has a pair of identical fasteners parts at one end, and hasapair of identical complementary parts at'its other 'end, one of each of the pairs lying on each side of the hin ging portion.

9. A hinge according to claim 1 in which the annular part of thebody portion immediately surrounding a fastener part is of half the thickness of the body portions generally.

10. A hinge according to claim 1 in which each fastener parts has its axis lying .at the centre of curvature of a semicircular portion projecting from the end of the body portion.

11. A hinge according to claim 10 in which the semicircular portion has tapered lips which interengage with complementary shaped recesses in the adjacent member.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,775,093 12/ 1956 Kundert. 2,791,868 5/1957 Viken 59-80 2,943,415 7/ 1960 Viken 46-28 3,144,695 8/1964 Budwig 2416 3,279,014 10/1966 Fischer 24115 FOREIGN PATENTS 883,895 12/1961 Great Britain.

981,805 1/ 1965 Great Britain. 1,007,683 10/1965 Great Britain.

BOBBY R. GAY, Primary Examiner.

DORIS L. TROUTMAN, Assistant Examiner. 

